Lug for guide cards



June 24, 1947. 'c w STRAUBEL Er AL 7 2,422,935

LUG FOR GUIDE CARDS Filed Sept. 5, 1944 Patented June 24, 1947 LUG ron GUIDE CARDS Clarence W. Straubel and John S. Holbrook, Youngstown, Ohio, assignors to The General Fireproofing Company, Youngstown, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application September 1944, Serial N 0. 552,776

2 Claims.

This invention relates to supporting lugs for guide cards, such as are used in the drawers of filing cabinets.

It is well known to provide eyelets or openings in a tongue at the bottom of the card and to provide drawer-carried rods extending longitudinally of drawers near their bottoms and through the openings in the cards to retain the cards in the drawers. In most casse, however, the rods must be entirely or at least partly removed from the drawers to enable removal and insertion of the cards, which is tedious and timeconsuming. On the other hand, there has not, however, heretofore been provided, a practical and satisfactory universally useful guide card having a one piece lug adapted to be connected and disconnected from the guide rod, or its equivalent, by a simple movement of the card carrying ,the lug in a direction substantially at right angles to the axis of the rod; nor has there been provided a 111g of the roll-bearing type meeting these requirements and whose lug rolls or rocks on the bottom of a channel in the drawer and serves as an anchor and separator; nor a lug which will permit the card to readily function as an ordinary guide card when the bottom of the lug does not rest on the channel and the bottom edge of the card therefore rests directly on the drawer bottom at either side of the channel and, which, in any case recited, may readily be applied to and removel from a retaining rod, or its equivalent, without disturbing the retaining rod in the drawer.

Accordingly, a primary object is to provide an improvement in said lugs which enables them to be readily connected or disconnected with a card anchoring member such as a guide rod, in drawers employing such rod, without withdrawing the latter from its customary position in the drawer, or, likewise readily connecting and disconnecting the lug from a permanently fixed guide rod or the equivalent of a guide rod, namely, a beaded flange, permanently secured to the drawer bottom, or a channel in the drawer bottom.

A further object is to provide a one piece metal or plastic supporting lug which may readily be applied to practically any guide card and embodying a construction such that it may readily be applied to a permanent rod or its equivalent to retain the guide card in the drawer, and equally as readily removed, whenever desired.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a readily'releasable supporting lug, preferably of the "roll-bearing type with its inherent advantages and capable of being produced expeditiously and at low cost and which is thoroughly reliable in the performance of its functions of supporting the card for free tilting movements and retaining the same in a drawer.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will become more fully apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in a lug for the purposes stated embodying the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in the appended I claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the different views:

Figure l is a front elevation of a lug constructed in accordance with one practical embodiment of the invention and shown as applied to an index card and operatively engaged with a drawer-carried retaining rod.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the structure shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the structure shown in Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 1 illustrating an alternative embodiment of the invention.

Figure 7 is a, bottom plan view of the structure shown in Figure 6.

Figure 8 is an end view of the structure shown in Figure 6.

Figure 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of Figure 6.

Figure 10 is a perspective view of the structure shown in Figure 6.

Figure 11 is a, perspective view of another alternative embodiment of the invention;

Figure 12 is a section on the line l2l2 of Figure 11.

Figure 13 is a detail perspective view of a beaded flange, permanently secured in the lug channel, to take the place of a guide rod.

Similar references, designate corresponding parts, throughout the several views.

According to each of the different illustrated forms of the invention, the one-piece present lug is designated generally as A and comprises an elongated bottom portion IU of substantial thickness or width and a pair of card. attaching ears II, II extending upwardly therefrom for securing the lug to the bottom portion of an index or guide card designated in each instance as B.

The ears I I, I I receive the lower marginal portion of the card B between them and they may be fastened against the front and the rear faces of the card by rivets IE or in any other suitable manner to attach the lug to the card. Alternatively, only a single attaching ear Il may be provided, if desired. In any event, when the lug is attached to the card, the bottom portion I of the lug underlies the card and extends parallel thereto so as to rest upon the upper side of the lug channel E3 of a drawer and thereby support the card in the drawer. The card is, of course, adapted to be supported in an upright position in the drawer transversely with respect thereto and to be slid forwardly and rearwardly as well as tilted forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the drawer. Accordingly, at least the lower part of the bottom portion Ii! of the lug A preferably is roundedtransversely for so-called roll-bearing contact with the upper side of the bottom portion of the lug channel i3 of the drawer bottom to enable the card readily to be slid and tilted, and to also space the cards a distance equal to the thickness of the lug when the lugs of several cards are in contact.

The card-retaining rod or anchoring member i4 extends, as usual, longitudinally of the drawer in the lug channel thereof and the lug A in each instance is provided with a slot 15 through which said rod also extends and which is of lesser width at .its mouth than said rod, whereby the card A is retained in the drawer.

The slot I5 is located approximately midway between the ends of the lug A, opens at its lower end through the bottom portion H] of said lug and extends upwardly a suitable distance into the ear or ears 11, as the case may be. Accordingly, said slot serves to separate the two lug portions to either side thereof into relatively flexible gripping or finger portions a which may be flexed forwardly and rearwardly, respectively, to widen the constricted lower end portion or mouth of the slot to enable application and removal of the lug and, consequently, the card, to and from the anchoring member or rod [4 without any necessity of removing or partly removing said rod from the drawer or otherwise manipulating said rod.

According to each of the two different forms of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 10, the lug A is formed from sheet metal or other suitable material of requisite stiffness and strength and is produced in one piece by bending a blank of proper shape upon itself to provide the bottom portion I0 and the ear or ears II'. On the other hand, according to the form of the invention illustrated in Figures 11 and 12, the lug is molded from a suitable plastic.

According to the Figures 1 to 10 forms of the invention the bottom portion H) of the lug essentially is hollow. On the other hand, the bottom portion [0 of the lug illustrated in Figures 11 and 12 may be either hollow or solid as desired. 'Moreover, the bottom portion lll according to each of the different forms of the invention may be circular or oval, or any other desired cross-sectional shape.

In any event, the essential difference between the Figures 1 to 5 form of the invention and the Figures 6 to 10 form of the invention is that the mouth or constricted lower end portion of the slot l5 of the Figures 1 to 5 form of the invention is disposed at right angles to the lower end portion In of the lug, whereas, in Figures 6 to 10, it extends diagonally forwardly and rearwardly with respect to said lower end portion l0. Thus, according to the Figures 6 to 10 form of the invention, the mouth or constricted lower end portion of the slot [5 may be actually as wide or even wider than the rod or anchoring member M in a diagonal direction forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the lug A. In a direction longitudinally with respect to said lug, however, said slot is of lesser width than the rod 14 to prevent upward removal of the lug and the card from said rod when the lug and the card are disposed operatively at right angles to said rod. Obviously, with the same width of the mouth or constricted lower end portion of the slot [5 longitudinally with respect to the lug A, the Figs. 6 to 10 form of the invention requires lesser flexing of the lug portions to either side of the slot than the Figures 1 to 5 form of the invention in order to permit application and removal of the lug to and from the rod l4, it being understood, of course, that according to all forms of the invention the lug is turned to a position diagonally with respect to said rod l4 during its application thereto and its removal therefrom.

The parts of the bottom portion ID of the lug adjacent to the slot 1 5 may be crimped inwardly as indicated at [6 in Figures 1 and 2 for stiffening or other purposes or they may remain uncri-rnped as shown in Figure 6.

According to the Figures 11 and 12 form of the invention the mouth or constricted lower end portion of the slot 15 may be of the form shown and described in connection with either of the Figures 1 to 5 or the Figures 6 to 10 forms of the invention. In Figures 11 and 12 the ears 1] may be fused together as indicated at 17 to hold them in clamping relationship to the lower marginal portion of the card B disposed between them.

Figure 13 of the drawings illustrates an anchoring member permanently secured to the inner face of the bottom wall of the lug channel of the filing drawer. As will be seen from this figure, the bottom wall 13a of the lug channel is fitted with an anchoring member 14a in the form of an upstanding flange whose top edge is rolled into a bead Mb while its bottom edge is formed into an attaching lip [40, welded, or otherwise secured to the bottom wall of the lug channel. This form of anchoring member, namely, a beaded flange, wherein the rolled or beaded top portion Mb is intended to extend longitudinally throughout the length of the drawer, provides the equivalent of a permanently fitted locking rod M. That is to say, the bead Mb is intended to receive the slotted lug A in the same manner heretofore described in cormection with the rod M. The guide card B :carrying the slotted lug A may be engaged or disengaged with the bead [4b by moving or manipulating the same at substan tially right angles to the axis of the bead. It will, of course, be understood that the attaching and detaching movement described may be accompanied by a slight twisting of the guide card, particularly when applying 2. lug of the type shown in Figures 6 and '7. On the other hand, the gripping or holding portions 10a of the lug may be flexed, as previously described, so as to permit of connecting and disconnecting the guide lug from the anchoring member.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A lug to be attached to the bottom portion of a guide card or the like, said lug comprising an elongated bottom portion of substantial thickness cross sectionally rounded at its bottom to engage the upper side of a drawer channel, means extending upwardly from said bottom portion for attaching the lug to an index or divider card, said lug having a medial vertically elongated slot to accommodate a drawer-carried anchoring member, said slot extending through the bottom portion of said lug to enable the lug portions to either side thereof to be flexed for the purpose of disposing the member in said slot, the mouth of said slot being of lesser width than said member whereby the lug and the card are held against upward removal therefrom, and the slot-formed inner end portions of the said bottom portion of said lug being flared from the central vertical plane of said bottom portion to adapt the lug to be disposed diagonally in either of two substantially opposite directions relative to the anchoring member to facilitate its application to and removal from said anchoring member.

2. A lug to be attached to the bottom portion of a guide card, said lug being formed from a single piece of sheet material bent upon itself to provide an elongated hollow cross-seotionallyrounded bottom portion to engage the upper side of the lug channel in a drawer, and a pair of ears extending upwardly from said portion to receive the lower portion of an index or divider card therebetween and to be fastened to the card to attach the lug thereto, said lug having a medial vertically elongated slot to accommodate a drawer-carried retaining rod, said slot extending through the bottom portion of said lug and upwardly into said ears to enable the lug portions to either side thereof to be flexed for the purpose of disposing the rod in said slot, the-mouth of said slot being of lesser width than said rod whereby the lug and the card are held against upward removal from the rod, the slot-formed inner end portions of the said bottom portion of said lug being pinched together from either side to close said inner end portions and to flare said portions from the central vertical plane of said bottom to adapt the lug to be disposed diagonally in either of two substantially opposite directions relative to the retaining rod to facilitate its application to-and removal from said rod.

CLARENCE VJ. STRAUBEL. JOHN S. HOLBROOK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 785,465 Armijo Mar. 21, 1905 1,654,555 Picard Jan. 3, 1928 1,983,577 Straubel Dec. 11, 1934 2,042,167 Beeler May 26, 1936 2,110,610 Rickaby Mar. 8, 1938 2,235,736 Bruen Mar. 18, 1941 1,367,550 Jones Feb. 8, 1921 1,489,346 Davis Apr. 8, 1924 1,707,917 Lombardini Apr. 2, 1929 1,955,592 Linn Apr. 17, 1934 2,097,018 Chamberlin Oct. 26, 1937 

